I have recently converted to American metal and I was wondering if this is the crank vent? If not, what is it?

 

Your machine must be a 1978 or newer? Earlier machines had this same vent (actually a breather tube) coming out of the bottom of the timing cover at the generator, rather than the top rear as yours does.
This is a breather for the oil pump. As the pistons come down there is pressure put into the lower end of the crankcase and the oil pump breather tube inside the timing cover is timed to open the breather to expel the pressure when the pistons come down. Breather tube closes as the pistons go back up...........pg

 

Thank you and good recce. It is a 1982. I just wanted to make sure that I wasn't riding around with a tube not connected that needed to be.

 

I know a couple of things about a 1974 or earlier ironhead, but anything later finds me guessing.......which is something I try to avoid doing.
The original set up was a metal tube about 6 inches long coming out the bottom of the timing cover and pointing backward. This tube had an open end so the pressure was vented to atmosphere.
Now here I am guessing, but........
Since yours is a 1982 I believe the factory relocated the outlet to where yours is so that they could be closer to the end of the tube.
I am also betting the tube on yours does not have an open end to atmosphere either, but rather terminates in the backside of the air cleaner. This is the kind of thing the Feds mandated so that the engine will gobble up and recycle all those 'nasty pollution' items spewing from the earlier models. The world is full of that kind of BS and that is my opinion of why the change was made.
Now, go burst my bubble by telling me your tube has an open end to the air .................pg

 

POP! The tube is open and although it heads in the direction of the intake, I do not see anywhere it would hook up to. I guess I am free to pollute at will.

 

on my late 84 i tapped a hole in the back of the air cleaner and hooked it up there to vent the pressure back thru the motor

 

Thank you for the quick response.

 

Yes, the hose should go into the back of the air cleaner. This setup began in 1979.

Up to and including 1976, as pointed out by pg, the breather tube ran out the bottom of the gearcase cover at the 6:00 o'clock position, and there was a timed breather apparatus, about which i do not know the details - but pg certainly does!

For 1977 and 1978 there was a vent, popularly known as a foofoo valve because of the sound it makes when it malfunctions, mounted externally at the 6:00 o'clock position; it outputs thru a similar tube that was on the earlier models. This eliminated the need for the timed breather.

Beginning in 1979 the foofoo is inside the gearcase cover; for 79 to 81 it is referred to as a reed valve assembly [26909-79A]; for 82 to 85 it is a check valve assembly [26909-82].

It is very important to have sufficient venting. Hence i believe it is important to have that hose run into the A/C as the suction there should make the venting more efficient.

 

Since you are new to Harley ownership and are questioning even small basic things, I suggest you either buy a Genuine Harley Service manual for your year and model or go to the local library and study the materials available there.

 

Thanks for the update information IronMick........
I knew less about this than I thought. I was unaware of the valve and the timed breather being no longer used in 1977-78. I was aware of the oil pump being changed around that time and it goes without saying that the timed breather may have been eliminated as well with the change..................pg